Appropriately
registered Trislander
G-R LON carried this
bright pink version
of the Royal London
sponsored livery for a
period.
A T I .
/D P would taxi and be airborne, normally within five minutes of the
passengers boarding the aircraft.
It is true to say that legroom was not very generous, with a seat
pitch of 27in. However, as passenger flights were hardly ever
longer than 45 minutes, this generally wasn’t an issue, unless
you were taller than average. You certainly got to know your
seat neighbour though, but talking could sometimes be an issue,
especially if you were sat towards the rear of the aircraft those
three engines certainly made a lot of noise!
The Trislander Mk III-2 had two luggage compartments on
board – one in the nose and one under the fin. Upon arrival
at the destination, passengers would be able to disembark the
aircraft, collect their own luggage and could be outside arrivals in
less than ten minutes.
Flying billboards
As a way for Aurigny to make
money, several of its
Trislanders were sold as
‘flying billboards’. Companies
could sponsor an aircraft and
have their logos and brand replace the
standard Aurigny livery. During the late
1990s, this proved to be very successful and
some registrations were also changed to
cleverly match company names. Some of
the liveries painted on the aircraft were also very striking
and eye-catching.
It was always exciting to see which aircraft you would be on for
the flight; many would always hope to be onboard ‘Joey’. The
story of Aurigny’s most famous Trislander began in 1981 with the
publication of the first in a series of books called The Little Yellow
Plane Adventures. The original six books in the series put JOEY
in numerous situations including playing detective, helping a
Professor to photograph an extremely rare flower, and helping a
sick bull by flying through a terrible storm.
The books were so popular with children that Aurigny decided
to re-register one of their Trislanders as G-JOEY, adding the
cartoon face features a few years later. Much to the delight of
JOEY ‘fans’, the aircraft was the only one of Aurigny’s Trislander
fleet to remain in the original all-yellow livery over the years.
Every passenger, young and old, could receive a certificate
signed by the pilot of their flight to say that they had
flown onboard G-JOEY! The books are still printed and
published today, and the complete set is available from the
Aurigny customer services desk at Guernsey Airport.Unusual Occurrences
Over the 46 years of operation there were a small number of
incidents, however none were fatal and the Trislander proved
itself to be a very safe, reliable and robust aircraft.
On June 8, 1998, G-BEVT made an emergency landing on St
Ouens Bay in Jersey. Following a routine departure from Jersey
Airport’s Runway 27, the left-hand engine failed. However,
there was an error on the load sheet and the aircraft departed
23kg over MTOW. With one engine out and over maximum
take-off weight, the aircraft was unable to climb and the pilot
opted to land on St Ouen’s Bay which was ahead of the nose.
The aircraft touched down on the hard sand with no issues, and
the passengers disembarked. The aircraft was not damaged and
following ground runs no faults were found and it was flown off
the beach the same day before the incoming tide. A testament to
the design of this rugged aircraft!
More unusual was the occurrence on April 23, 2007. During
a routine flight from Southampton to Alderney Captain Ray
Bower, piloting an Aurigny Trislander spotted two large –
seemingly stationary – and identical airborne craft which were
glowing yellow. He was at 4,000ft (1,219m) around 10 miles
(16km) south of the Isle of Wight and initially thought they
could have been caused by reflections off buildings in Guernsey as
the island was in the same direction. However, after two minutes,
he still had visual contact with the objects. Looking through
his binoculars, he noticed that the objects were “not of usual
aeroplane design” and upon contact with Jersey ATC, controllers
confirmed that they had picked up a faint signal in the vicinity of
the objects. The Trislander was beginning its descent and once
below 2,000ft (609m) the Captain lost sight of the objects.
The pilot of a Blue Islands Aircraft on route to Jersey near Sark
also reported the two objects but to this day it is unknown what
the pilots of either aircraft saw.G-BEPH f lew in
various schemes
during its time with
Aurigny, including
these attractive
sky blue markings
to promote Steeple
Finance.28 AIRLINER Classics 2018
In 2001 the former
G-BDWV was
re-registered as
G-R BCI to coincide
with its sponsorship
by the Royal Bank of
Canada.G-BEPI was
re-registered as
G-FTSE as a nod
towards sponsor
Quilter & Co – who
were investment
managers!COM PA NI ES could sponsor
an aircraft and have their logos
and brand replace the standard
Aurigny livery.